There’s some bad blood between the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers, as the California teams just played seven games in the span of 11 days, with the former getting the win 5-3 on Thursday night.
The squads did throw hands after the Padres‘ superstar Fernando Tatis Jr. was hit by a pitch thrown by Dodgers reliever Jack Little, who was making his MLB debut.
Immediately after the violent hit Tatis Jr. took, San Diego manager Mike Shildt raced to check on his player. But Shildt quickly turned his ire toward Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. Eventually, both faced off and pushed each other, which resulted on both benches cleared.
Fernando Tatis Jr. frightens Mookie Betts
Fernando Tatis Jr. was in a lot of pain but was able to get up, with the Dominican outfileder pushing some Los Angeles players away from his teammates. Eventually he got near Mookie Betts, one of the key players of the Dodgers, and both exchanged a few words.
Tatis Jr. went on to tell Betts something that frighten the Dodgers player, who decided to step back from confrontation. After the game, the outfielder and second base was asked about the pushing and shoving that went on between both teams, but Mookie decided to stay away from controversy.
Padres closer Robert Suarez hit superstar Shohei Ohtani in the bottom of the ninth — the eighth hit batter in four games this week. It was merely the latest in a long line of fiery encounters between these two fierce National League West rivals.
“I don’t know, I ain’t got nothing to do with that. There’s gonna be zero controversy talk over here, so if y’all wanna talk about hit by pitches, we can go ahead and end it, but it was a good baseball game and they came out on top” said a visibly annoyed Betts.
The controversy continues between both teams
Fernando Tatis Jr. would exit the game alongside a team trainer, flexing his right hand. He was immediately taken for X-rays, which were negative, according to a Padres spokesperson. He’s scheduled for an evaluation this Friday to confirm results on his possible injury.
All of which prompted his teammate Manny Machado to talk about Tatis Jr. hit. “They need to set a little candle up for Tatis tomorrow, and hope that everything comes back negative,” he said. (Asked to clarify, Machado confirmed that, yes, “they” meant the Dodgers.)
Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts insisted that pitcher Jack Little hadn’t thrown at Tatis Jr. on purpose. “I think anyone would understand there’s no intent there,” Roberts said. “And even by my reaction, I didn’t feel good about Tatis — great player, good guy — getting hit.”
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